BANGLADESH Cricket Board (BCB) preferred to neglect domestic cricket in 2016 to concentrate on better preparation for Asia Cup and World T20 tournament. Now both those campaigns are done and dusted. Bangladesh played Asia Cup admirably well losing the final to strong India in the final. Win against Pakistan and Sri Lanka demonstrated the consistent advancement of Bangladesh in the shorter versions of the game.
Bangladesh had to play in the qualifying round for the World T20. Playing at a high altitude of Dharmasala in biting cold was a huge challenge .But emerging Bangladesh let out strong challenge to the cricket world bulldogging all opposition in the qualifying round. Many felt that making Bangladesh play in the qualifying round od a world cricket tournament was a cruel joke.
But crisis struck at this point. Two leading lights of Bangladesh attack Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny were reported for suspect bowling actions and were later suspended after hurried actions of testing and ruling their actions unacceptable. Bangladesh appealed against the judgement against Taskin .But that was overturned. Bangladesh rushed replacements through Shubhagato Hom and Saqlain Sajib.
Bangladesh lost all four matches of the group of which two matches against Pakistan and New Zealand played at Eden Garden they lost convincingly. They could stretch Australia to their limits and lost the match against India from an impregnable winning situation.
Hence it was bitter sweet memory all together. Many will suggest that Bangladesh failed to produce consistent cricket true to their potential.
Few will strongly argue of biased unfair treatment to emerging Bangladesh team by ICC. The suspension of Taskin and Sunny was perhaps not delivered at the right time in the right manner. The 50-50 umpiring decisions in most cases went against Bangladesh.
Setting aside all these if we look back in retrospect we can find few positives , some gains but some losses as well.
One key member of Bangladesh team experienced all-rounder Nasir Hossain for reasons unknown is out of favor of team management .We are not sure that Captain Mashrafee , head coach ChandikaHarurasinghe and team selectors are on the same page about Nasir .
He is a brilliant late order batsman, above average off spinner and one of the best fielder. He has world of experience. But off late since Hatua took over he is not very regular in the team. He was selected in the squad on merit above others . But unfortunately was not given any game . This happened even after Taskin , Sunny suspension .
Two replacements were flown in and directly put into playing eleven. The absence of Nasir like all rounder was keenly felt in most matches. But he was forced to remain in the dug out .This has raised questions and controversies?
Was Nasir not match fit? Is there any issue of indiscipline against him ? We cannot accept team combination excuse . Shubhagato Hom or Mithun Ali cannot be better option than Nasir .They could not justify selector faith on them and preference over Nasir.
Majestic Mustafiz rocked and rolled cricket world with his mysterious bowling skill. He was outstanding in all three matches he played .But his solo efforts was not enough for Bangladesh winning matches. Bangladesh batted poorly in the first and the last match of the main round. The body language of the entire team looked dodgy in the matches against Australia and New Zealand.
Tamim played exceptionally well in the qualifying round. But his batting fell apart in the main round .Him not appearing in the match against India was a sad blow for the team cause. Soumya’s skill proved well short of adequacy at the international level. He proved too predictable. I am not sure that playing Mithun Ali was a smart decision. Shakib’s performance was mixed in the tournament. At times he was brilliant with both bat and ball other time he looked very ordinary. Mahmudullah was consistent excepting losing his cool at the crunch stage of the crucial match against India. Musfique was well below his best.
The mission Asia Cup and World T20 cannot be termed total success judging from the pathetic way of miserable last match .Selection of playing squad raised huge controversy. T20 matches need impact players. Bangladesh do not have many strong power strikers and good all rounders .They can not adjust to changing conditions , different wickets .They are vulnerable to pressure cooker situation . Bangladesh has lot to go to prove a competent team in T20 format.
There is something definitely wrong in team selection and team management .Perhaps people not supposed to have a say dictates .Personal likings and disliking matter. There must be honest soul searching and issues addressed if Bangladesh Cricket has to advance.
BDST: 0917 HRS, Mar 27, 2016
AKA
